From Feb. 21-23, 2025, the 91短视频 Peace Fellowship club will host the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship (ICPF) conference. This student-led weekend conference brings together students and faculty from Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker colleges across the U.S. and Canada to examine issues of peace and justice.

The theme for the 2025 ICPF is 鈥淏uilding Solidarity: From Turtle Island to Palestine.鈥� Many students from the schools represented at the conference participate in organizations such as  and the 鈥攐rganizations that are working to build Palestine and Indigenous solidarities, respectively. The 2025 ICPF will give students an opportunity to learn more about these movements, educate students about organizing and movement-building, and foster connections to encourage activism on home campuses and in home communities.

Keynote speakers at this event include the co-founders and organizers of Mennonite Action, Nick Martin and Adam Ramer, as well as a longtime member of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, Lars 脜kerson. Their keynote addresses will be held in Martin Chapel at 91短视频鈥檚 Seminary Building, with different sessions taking place throughout the building.

The conference workshops will provide space for more in-depth conversations with Mennonite Action and the Coalition, as well as a time to hear from other practitioners about the solidarity work they engage in. Some of the workshops include creative approaches to decolonial peacebuilding in South America, Palestine solidarity work in Harrisonburg, and a student panel with a mix of justice-related topics.

Renae Benner, one of the 91短视频 students helping organize the ICPF, looks forward to meeting other students who 鈥渃are deeply about peace and justice issues.鈥� She hopes those who attend the conference will 鈥渓eave feeling inspired to take action for peace and be informed about how to do that.鈥� Many faculty and students at 91短视频 care deeply about seeking peace and justice, she added, making the university well-suited to host this conference.

91短视频 last hosted the ICPF in February 2020 and before that in 2014. Generally, participating institutions take turns hosting the conference every year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference has not been held since 2020. The conference planning committee is excited about restarting the conference and looks forward to building new connections during this time.

Visit the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship webpage to find more information about the schedule or register for the conference.

Participants at ICPF are expected to come from Mennonite colleges and universities including Hesston College, Bluffton University, Goshen College, Bethel College, Canadian Mennonite University, and Conrad Grebel University; other Anabaptist, Quaker, and Brethren universities such as Messiah College, Elizabethtown College, and Manchester University; and other colleges in the Harrisonburg area such as James Madison University and Bridgewater College.

This event reflects 91短视频’s commitment to its core value of peace and justice by providing a platform for students and faculty to engage in critical conversations, build meaningful connections, and take tangible steps toward transformative change in their communities and beyond.

Read a preview of the event in the Daily News-Record .

Keynote speaker , an 91短视频 professor internationally known for her work, asked the 100 conference participants to craft a confession of their faith, informed by 500 years of peacemaking experience. The resultant statement reached fruition on Feb. 24, exactly 487 years from the day that the Schleitheim Confession was issued.

The original document represented 鈥渁 watershed articulation of certain Anabaptist distinctives,鈥� wrote C. Arnold Snyder, in the of the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

The Shenandoah Confession 鈥� printed below 鈥� encompasses themes of love and compassion as well as calls to radical nonviolent action. 鈥淚t heavily stresses the peace principles that set the Anabaptists apart from many other faith streams,鈥� said professor , adding that it was 鈥渄rafted in group process and finalized by a student-led committee.鈥�

The document follows in the tradition of 鈥渟peaking boldly鈥� as part of the 鈥減riesthood of all believers,鈥� said senior Evan Knappenberger. He led the process through a half-dozen drafts, working with seniors Jacob Landis, Aaron Erb, Christine Baer and Krista Nyce. (Baer and Nyce also organized the conference.) Knappenberger said Heisey, Schirch and other 91短视频 faculty members significantly contributed to the process.

The Shenandoah Confession consists of 11 articles comprising 1,668 words. 91短视频 Bible and religion professor calls its language 鈥渞obustly theological.鈥�

鈥淭he same spirit of radical community still hangs in the air, waiting for the right moment to spark something new,鈥� said Knappenberger.

The Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship of Mennonite and Affiliated Colleges aims to “promote the cause of biblical nonresistance by providing various channels for sharing ideas among the college peace groups,” according to its 1953 constitution. Its annual conference rotates among host institutions.

听* * *

The Shenandoah Confession

Presented this 24^th day of February, 2014, on behalf of those gathered in Christ at the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship of Anabaptist colleges meeting at 91短视频, to our various communities around the world. Written by participants with inspiration from previous Anabaptist confessions of faith.

Preface.

May peace, fellowship, patience and the truth of the love of God be with all who love God.听 Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, may the care of the good shepherd and the strength of the lamb who was slain sustain you in your efforts to recognize God鈥檚 Kingdom which, according to the most holy teacher and savior, Jesus of Nazareth, exists among and within all creation and is the source of life everywhere.

Dear brothers and sisters, we who have been assembled for the 2014 Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference, in the Lord at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, make known to all that we have been united in the spirit of fellowship to the common goal of building the peace of a loving and merciful God.听 The articles to which we confess ourselves we announce here in the spirit of those Anabaptist brothers and sisters who before us made confession together at Schleitheim on the 24^th day of February in the year 1527, and Dordrecht in 1632, including the various conclusions that have been amended to it by the church since.听 As those dear brothers and sisters made formal confession into a foundational action of the Anabaptist church, so let us confess ourselves in the hopes of a new and prophetic life in Immanuel, who is God with us.

The eleven articles of confession.

The articles of our confession are as follows.

1.听听听听 Confession of faith in Christ as the foundation of peace.

2.听听听听 Love as the root of all things.

3.听听听听 The call of the spirit of God to all for radical pacifist action.

4.听听听听 Acceptance of the truth of the full humanity of all God鈥檚 children.

5.听听听听 Inclusion as the guiding principle of action within the spirit.

6.听听听听 Accountability of historical wrongs, especially colonialisms.

7.听听听听 An abiding desire to participate in resilient and just economies.

8.听听听听 The full and unflinching engagement of creative faculties of believers in service of peace.

9.听听听听 Embrace of lives of radical simplicity following the truth of God鈥檚 peace on Earth.

10.听 Commitment to deep listening and dialogue as the prophetic intention of Christian pacifism.

11.听 Recognition of failures and continued re-commitment to our principles within community.

Explication of articles.

Confession of faith in Christ as the foundation of peace.听 We confess our faith in the peace of Christ that surpasses understanding, and our dedication to the principled peace of the Lord and savior Jesus who taught a bold humility. 听We embrace the faith even as we work for the good of all people, including people with whom we disagree, or people of other faiths, and even those who proclaim themselves our enemies and seek to do us harm.听 We seek the realization of the one we follow, Jesus, that the good of all is the work of servants; and in the tradition of him who laid down his life for all people, we embrace our identities as his followers knowing well the consequences of the burden of the cross.听 We admit that there can be no higher calling than the gospel call to nonviolent action in accordance with the will of the Holy Spirit, and the imminent fullness of the kingdom of the lamb, who does justice with mercy.

Love as the root of all things.听 Being created in the spirit of love, and saved by the love of Jesus who is our redeemed example of love, we here confess that love to be at the heart of all things.听 We confess to loving ourselves and others without the world鈥檚 judgment and vanities; we commit to loving the earth and protecting God鈥檚 gift of life, the spirit of God itself, and our enemies and neighbors, in praise and thanksgiving.听 We also confess our belief that our love must be one that challenges those around us to become better followers of Jesus.听 Love must be mission, holding others accountable and building them up.听 True love, we hold, calls people to action in its embodiment and by its very example.

The call of the spirit of God to all for radical pacifist action.听 听This gospel call to act as servants we confess to be the central tenant of the Christian faith.听 Peace is the vocation of all things made by a just and good creator, we believe. 听Peace shapes our daily lives and actions whether or not we are aware of it; it is our intention to practice this peace conscientiously around the world and amongst neighbors.听 The spirit of God calls all God鈥檚 life back to God, clothed in the raiment of nonviolence, worshiping the wonderful counselor who does justice and loves mercy.听 We confess that we seek to build institutions upon the shoulders of Christ, the servant who yearns for right relationship among the children of God.

Acceptance of the truth of the full humanity of all God鈥檚 children.听 We affirm all brothers and sisters to be equal in Christ.听 We call for the full privileges and rights of Christ to be granted them without delay.听 We honor the power and beauty of all life, and seek to enter relationship with it, not avoiding but rather walking toward conflict in the spirit of peace and fellowship.听 Along with this, we confess that our communities must become places of deep healing, sustainable praxis, nonviolent education and radical acceptance, where brothers and sisters can seek their identities in Christ freely, without fear of prejudice or categorical pre-judgement.

Inclusion as the guiding principle of action within the spirit.听 We confess that the guiding principle of prophetic action within the will of the spirit is one of active inclusion. 听In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, nor male and female.听 All people, created in the image of God, are unconditionally welcomed to God鈥檚 table and to God鈥檚 salvation.

Accountability of historical wrong, especially colonialisms.听 We hereby pledge solidarity and yield up positions of leadership to those communities who have been historically marginalized.听 We seek to affirm their leadership and support peace and nonviolence education by upholding the principles of peacebuilding in our own local and historical contexts.听 As North American Anabaptists, we confess our need to challenge and reform our own government and lay out peacebuilding alternatives to violence and war.

An abiding desire to participate in resilient and just economies.听 We see that our world suffers from a lack of care for God鈥檚 living environment, and we grieve the lack of our participation in an economy that is environmentally sustainable and socially just. 听We confess our desire to support local enterprise, invest prudently in clean energy, and remain mindful of our impact on and our role within God鈥檚 loving creation. 听We seek to embrace trickle-up change, and we commit to imagining innovative communities along these principles near to our homes, even as we seek God鈥檚 peace farther from our immediate spheres of influence.

The full and unflinching engagement of creative faculties of believers in service of peace.听 We confess that we look for creative engagement within our hearts and communities in order to nonviolently pursue restorative justice in the name of a righteous God of wholeness. Violence stifles creative impulses and inhibits our ability to seek the peace of God. 听We believe in appealing for peace to the creativity of the Spirit, which is that of Jesus, and of the one who sent him.

Embrace of lives of radical simplicity following the truth of God鈥檚 peace on Earth.听 In order to focus our lives to the call of God鈥檚 peace on Earth, we hereby uphold the life of the servant Christ in its simplicity and mission-orientation as the model for all conscientious human activity.听 We seek to affirm the intentional community of believers without excluding other brothers and sisters, and we disavow egotistical ambition as a basis for peace and faith work.听 We recognize the impossibility of following two masters, and chose to follow the way of peace despite the possibilities of worldly poverty which can sometimes overshadow it.

Commitment to deep listening and dialogue as the prophetic intention of Christian pacifism.听 We assert principles of right relationship to neighbor, enemy and self to be the following: deep listening as a means of connection and dialogue; openness to change of identity and opinion; mutual transformation in partnership and in the spirit of the creator; deep reflection before action; and nonviolence.

Recognition of failures and continued re-commitment to our principles within community.听 We confess that we have at times failed to embody the principles of community.听 With contrition we earnestly implore God鈥檚 forgiveness.听 We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, we have not honored God鈥檚 creation, and we have often left the work of peace undone.听 Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us recognize our many vanities, our mindless consumerisms. Let us hereby recommit ourselves to the principles of Christian pacifism, the articles of confession above, and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in the way of nonviolence.

听Postlude.

Brothers and sisters in God, we most earnestly confess these points to you in hope that they move in your hearts, and excite within you a desire to confess them also.听 May your roots 鈥� watered in the innocence and strength of the lamb of God 鈥� nourish your spirits and give you rest and joy.听 Also may your wings 鈥� lifted by the breath of the Holy Spirit 鈥� shield you in the protection of the most high and allow you to walk and not grow faint, to run and not become weary, to soar as eagles.听 May the peace of God be with you now and always, and may the teachings of the Prince of Peace guide you to the realization of God鈥檚 presence among us.听 Amen.

You鈥檒l also see a picture, right at the top, of American and British soldiers teaching their Sierra Leonean counterparts how to use a mortar. It鈥檚 a worth-a-thousand-words example of what鈥檚 wrong with the predominant approach to security reform around the world, according , research professor at the of 91短视频.

鈥淥ften, military personnel are taught how to use weapons and how to target 鈥榚nemies鈥� but they are not taught about civil society, how to protect civilians or basic social skills for interacting with people,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ore and more experts are realizing that more training is needed to help security forces understand how they should be relating to civilians.鈥�

Schirch argues that the institutions of civil society 鈥� religious groups, universities, media, community organizations, etc. 鈥� are the foundation of stable, peaceful communities. True security sector reform, then, should assist security forces to protect and empower civil society as it builds and sustains peace. The train-and-equip model that prevails now, however, often results in civilians 鈥減erceiving the military or police as predators, not as protectors,鈥� she said.

Re-orienting soldiers, police officers, to civil society

Addressing that problem lies at the heart of Schirch鈥檚 latest undertaking 鈥� a three-year process to develop a curriculum for teaching soldiers and police officers the 鈥渟oft鈥� skills of relating to civil society. The project, called 鈥�,鈥� is a partnership between (where Schirch also serves as director of human security), the at the University of Notre Dame, and .

As part of the ongoing curriculum development, Schirch and her colleagues are meeting with civil society groups and security forces around the world to gather input, collect case studies, and develop teaching strategies and materials. By 2015, the work will result in the publication of a training handbook and a series of online courses designed to improve the ways that security forces and civil society groups communicate and interact.

Schirch describes the effort as a culmination of the work she鈥檚 done over the past decade to help American foreign policy support 鈥� rather than counteract鈥� peace, security and democracy in other countries. Among her inspirations for this was a 2005 visit to Iraq to lead a peacebuilding training, during which Iraqis asked her what she was doing to teach her own government and military how to build peace.

Keynote speaker at Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship

During her keynote address at the hosted at 91短视频 Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, 2014, Schirch described how she subsequently began 鈥渒nocking on doors鈥� in Washington D.C. and at the Pentagon, with no clear idea of what she wanted to do other than to begin talking with military leaders about . (To beat swords into plowshares, she noted, you have to get in touch with the people holding the swords.) As a result, she now receives regular invitations from the military to appear on panels, teach courses, and speak at conferences about peacebuilding and security. This is a reflection, she said, of an enormous hunger in the military to learn more about these issues.

Also during her remarks at the recent conference, Schirch outlined a series of 50-year goals she has for the security curriculum project and ensuing work. Among these is her hope that the military will become an institution focused on peacekeeping, disaster response and protection of civilians, rather than destruction of enemies, and that all soldiers will be trained peacebuilders whose primary role is to protect civilians. She also hopes that nonlethal weapons will be used during violent crises to prevent further violence, and that perpetrators of that violence will be brought to justice before the International Criminal Court and other legal institutions.

Schirch points to a number of examples where better relationships between civil society groups and the military have already improved security and built peace around the world. In the Philippines, she said, classes at the 鈥� founded by graduates of 鈥� have taught conflict management and peacebuilding to soldiers. These soldiers鈥� new skills and relationships to civil society groups, as resulted from the classes, have allowed the military to 鈥渄e-escalate very tense situations with armed groups,鈥� Schirch said.

New book: Conflict Assessment and Peacebuilding Planning

Civil society leaders, with the support of security forces, have also stopped post-election violence in both Ghana and Kenya by acting on previously established plans for addressing conflict, she said.

This summer, Schirch will be teaching a course at SPI based on her latest book, . The book, listed atop the reading list for 2014, concludes that effective peacebuilding requires coordinated planning between the military, government and civil society groups. The curriculum project Schirch is now developing will include lessons on conflict assessment and methods described in the book.

鈥淚nstead of just demonizing the military, we need to engage them as human beings and provide training so they have tools other than guns to build peace,鈥� Schirch said when speaking to the audience of young peacebuilders at the recent 91短视频 conference. 鈥淲e have a lot of work to do, so it鈥檚 good that we have a lot of good people working on this.鈥�

The theme of the conference is “Peace in practice: What does it look like when our theories become action?”

“Lisa’s example of听field work with local, international, and systems-based conflicts is inspirational for college students,” says Christine Baer, a conference co-organizer and a senior and major.

Schirch and other speakers will focus on building peace at all levels, from local to international, and integrating this work into art and other forms of community engagement.

91短视频 Lisa Schirch

In her role at the Alliance for Peacebuildling, Schirch connects policymakers with global civil society networks, facilitates civil-military dialogue, and provides a conflict prevention and peacebuilding lens on current policy issues.

Schirch is also a research professor at .

She has conducted conflict assessments and participated in peacebuilding planning alongside local colleagues in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Ghana, and Fiji.

Schirch works primarily with small local NGOs and civil society organizations. Schirch also has worked as a consultant on conflict assessment and peacebuilding planning for large entities, such as the , the World Bank, several branches of the U.S. government, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, and many other international organizations.

She holds a BA in international relations from the University of Waterloo in Canada and an MS and a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University.

Drama that entertains and informs

“I’d Like to Buy an Enemy” will be performed by on Friday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m., in the MainStage Theater in University Commons.

The play, starring Ted Swartz, MDiv ’92, and Tim Ruebke MA ’99 (), allows audiences to laugh at themselves while raising important questions about the place of the United States in the world, confronting the fear that is such a large part of contemporary culture, and exploring ways to honestly work for peace and justice in this country.

Tickets are $8 for general audience and $5 for 91短视频 faculty and staff. 91短视频 students and conference attendees are free, if they show their identifications.

Ted and Company will also host university chapel on Friday at 10 a.m.

Organizers

The Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference is sponsored and organized by , a student organization that organizes campus-wide activities, regular space to share meals and discussions, and special speakers to spark meaningful dialogue. For more information about the conference or Peace Fellowship, contact the applied social sciences department.

Conference details

The program will open on Friday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., and end on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 1 p.m. Participating schools include Bluffton University in Ohio; Conrad Grebel College in Canada; Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania; Goshen College in Indiana; Hesston College in Kansas; and Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

Workshops will be offered on a wide range of topics, including 鈥淎 Subversive Shalom: Enacting Radical Peace” with and ; “Home Front: the Untold History of Radical Veteran Peacemaking” with ; and “: Promoting Personal Growth and Community Well-Being” with Philip Fisher Rhodes and Ron Copeland.

Other topics to be covered range from “The Relationship Between Islam and Peace” and “Restorative Justice in Our Schools” to “Arts, Theater, and Peacebuilding.”

Most sessions will be held in of the seminary building and seminary classrooms.

Creating connections

“We expect this conference to be a time of sharing stories and experiences at all levels, with many practical applications of peacebuilding,” said Krista Nyce, an 91短视频 senior major and conference co-organizer. “We have heard a lot in the classroom about theories and have debated concepts; thus we hope this can be a time to build on those with realistic accounts of speakers鈥� varied involvements from local organizations to experiences of national organizing, from art to restorative justice to education.”

and a is available . is also available.

For more information on the conference visit or email: emupeacefellowship@gmail.com.

Peace Conference keynote speaker Nicholas Detweiler-Stoddard (Photo by David Kreider)

When 60 students were asked to name problems they want solved, answers included environmental, immigration and criminal justice reform and eliminating genocide, human trafficking and racism.

Having just posed the above request to the Feb. 19-20 Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference, keynoter Nicholas Detweiler-Stoddard followed with a tougher question: “How many of these have you changed?”

After an awkward silence from the mostly undergraduates, he reminded them that frustration with big issues should not entail giving up, but working on a human scale. Personally, Detweiler-Stoddard knew he could not abolish racism, but had helped one boy and his family who suffered its effects.

STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) program artwork created by students during a weekend training seminar. The glasswork was featured throughout the weekend peace conference. The individual pieces of glass (inset) feature words and phrases focused on the process of peacebuilding. (Photo by Amy Schmid)

“Backyard Peacebuilding: Cultivating Peace In Our Neighborhoods” was the 2010 theme for the conference – an annual gathering organized by students from Mennonite schools for more than 60 years. Participants came to this year’s host campus, 91短视频, from Conrad Grebel College, Waterloo, Ont.; Bluffton (Ohio) University; Goshen (Ind.) College; Hesston (Kan.) College; and Messiah College, Grantham, Pa.

Host students determine each year’s theme, noted faculty member Gloria Rhodes, chair of the applied social sciences department that houses the peacebuilding and development major. A previous conference hosted at 91短视频 chose trauma healing. 91短视频 seniors Kate Nussbaum and Jenny Hochstetler led in planning this year’s event, working in a small campus group since September. The “Backyard” theme emerged in early brainstorming when students called for a localized focus, said Nussbaum.

Feedback from students

Messiah College sophomore Phil Wilmot liked the emphasis on working locally. He hopes to start a movement to resist war taxation.

Participants in Vanessa Hershberger’s “Peacebuilding Education in Nicaragua” workshop try to tie a knot without letting go of the ends, an exercise aimed at illustrating how difficult it can be to work in a different culture. Photo by Amy Schmid

Daniel Foxvog is active in a peace club on his Goshen campus, which recently sponsored a workshop on resisting war “from the 1960s to today.” He hopes to advocate for immigrants or restorative justice.

Tannis Schilk liked the emphasis on constructive change. The second-year political science major from Conrad Grebel said, “We spend a lot of time studying government and how it works, but not how to improve things.”

Defining “peace” was another challenge Detweiler-Stoddard posed. To some, e noted, “peace” has negative connotations. Students called out related terms, ranging from “conflict transformation” to “Shalom.”

Caleb Gingrich, in his third year at Grebel, felt peace was not the mere absence of violence, but “living in harmony with each other. It’s not the absence of conflict, but how you deal with conflict; how you value each other.”

91短视频 the speaker

91短视频 2007 graduate Detweiler-Stoddard, who received the bi-national C. Henry Smith Peace Oratory award that year and later worked with local schools, the Boys and Girls Club and Crossing Creeks facility, is a first-year master of divinity student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

While no more than a third of attendees aspired to careers in peacebuilding, most agreed with Detweiler-Stoddard that “Peacebuilding is something everybody can do.”

He suggested “de-professionalizing” their concept of it. Once traveling to Jamaica, working beside human rights lawyers and other “professional peacebuilders,” he had felt, “Peace wasn’t my thing. Fortunately, my colleagues helped me to see differently. It was something that I as a common person could do.” He now aspires to ministry, perhaps — though not necessarily – in a pastorate.

Peacebuilding activities

Students from each school shared their peacebuilding activities, including gardening, composting, anti-racism training and peer mediation, noted Hochstetler. While brainstorming for new projects, “The students had so much visionary energy and so many incredible ideas, they repeatedly exceeded the time frames,” Detweiler-Stoddard said.

Among the mostly student-led workshops, “Music as a Metaphor” for harmonious interaction was a favorite for Hochstetler. Nussbaum added, “We had a great discussion on Safe Space” – a group for dialogue on sexual orientation. “The majority found a lot of hope in our generation about our willingness to dialogue.”

Two workshops addressed immigration: one titled “Would You Let Jesus In?” and another discussing the proposed “DREAM Act” to allow conditional citizenship for undocumented youth.

Other topics ranged from Palestine-occupation divestment to “Commuting for Peace – Biking in the 21st Century.” Several from the latter workshop wheeled off to ride between lingering snowbanks on a chilled but sunny afternoon.

The conference ended with some hands-on work: students assisted Titus Peachey and Luke Schrock-Hurst, of Mennonite Central Committee, in folding towels for kits containing supplies for shipment to Haiti.

Learn more about peacebuilding and development studies at 91短视频

Chris Edwards is a free-lance writer living in Harrisonburg.

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